COVID-19: Tunisia gets $745m loan from IMF

The Tunisian government has been granted a monetary loan believed to be worth the sum of $745-million by the International Monetary Fund - IMF on Friday.

The loan seeks to help the North African country in the battle against the deadly coronavirus as it struggles with 671 cases and 25 deaths so far, according to Worldometers.

According to the IMF, the North African country’s economy is expected to contract by 4.3 per cent in 2020, in what is speculated to be the worst recession since the country’s independence in 1956.

This is the first IMF emergency financing to the Middle East and North Africa region.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Tunisia hard.

“The pandemic will worsen Tunisia’s already elevated macroeconomic imbalances and will also create urgent fiscal and balance of payment needs,” Mitsuhiro Furusawa, the IMF deputy managing director said in a statement.

The monies are meant to help Tunisia “contain the spread of the virus and mitigate its human, social, and economic toll amid unprecedented uncertainty.”

The IMF said the loan will be used to increase health spending, strengthen social safety nets, and support Tunisian businesses.

(NAN)